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Investor Presentaiton

MVO NEDERLAND farm, crop rotation, use of fertilisers and pest control can create major benefits for the farmer, including saving on production costs.34 3) Climate resilience. By working with a comprehensive soil approach, more soil life, more coverage and different plants holding more water and nitrogen in the soil, coffee plants become less vulnerable to drought and dramatic shifts in temperature. True pricing A potential follow-up angle for connecting coffee companies as well as fruit importers with sustainable production in Minas Gerais is the trend of true pricing. The coffee sector was introduced to the concept of making the true cost of coffee production visible through collaboration with producers and buyers and making use of tools that are being developed. The true cost of coffee production in Brazil will show what is the negative social and environmental impact expressed in a price component. This information can help producers to work on sustainable production efforts as well as to explain to partners that the price of their coffee is in no way based on the real costs of production including living income, let alone on the possibility to invest in sustainable production methods to bring down the negative impact and true costs of production. It is in our view highly recommended to explore how Brazilian producers can get started with true cost calculations for small and medium scale production together with their Dutch partners. This can prove to be a vital element of communicating about more diverse coffee, sustainable production, the benefits of small and medium scale production and a call for higher prices for green coffee. Explore the opportunities for mixed farming or agroforestry Apart from nature reservation, the Forest Code of 2012 provides a good opportunity to develop the business case of agroforestry. The Forest Code allows (to a certain extent) for the commercial use of the obligatory 20, 30 or 80% of legal reserve, if native vegetation remains intact. In other words, it is possible to produce within this area, as long as the requirements of nature conservation are met. Agroforestry can help to achieve this. Coffee is a shade crop by nature Originally found in forests of central Ethiopia, Arabica is naturally a shade crop, with trees growing up to 5 metres. This coffee from the Kaffa region is still grown as it was centuries ago, and this offers some sustainability advantages. However, in the case of Ethiopia, the insufficient quality and availability of this coffee make it an inferior option for buyers. It is worth investigating what examples exist in Brazil of companies experimenting with growing coffee within the legal reserves, and what the potential business case for this coffee is. It is furthermore worth exploring which coffee companies are interested to act on the demand side of this potentially highly sustainable coffee. Support women in coffee Supporting female entrepreneurship and female empowerment is a component of Dutch foreign trade policy. The Brazilian coffee sector offers the Dutch government and private sector opportunities to work more with female producers. For example, the Brazilian chapter of the International Women's Coffee Alliance (IWCA) is quite strong and can be a useful contact for match- making, research and cooperation. They have a special label for their members, indicating that the coffee is produced by women, which could be interesting for Dutch buyers looking to bring more differentiated coffee to the market. The Dutch government can assist with linking producers and buyers, and spot opportunities for cooperation on female entrepreneurship (e.g. workshops). Next steps The economic network in Brazil will organise a joint mission of coffee buyers, Dutch soil specialists and biological pest control companies jointly with a CSR specialist, to visit quality coffee producers of two specialty coffee areas of Minas Gerais: Sul de Minas and Matas de Minas. The joint effort would consist of helping farmers improve the sustainability of the specialty coffees produced in 34 Eco system services to biological control of pests: https://nev.nl/pages/publicaties/proceedings/nummers/17/103-111.pdf 27
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